The novel polymers of the invention belong to the class of polyethers comprising an oxypropylene backbone, the .beta.-carbon atom of which is a tertiary carbon atom that is also a member of about a 3 to 10 unit cyclic polyoxyalkylene moiety.
Archer et al. in Chem. & Ind. 1271 (1969) describe the preparation of compounds of the formula ##STR4## Other cyclic polyethers, capable of complexing cations, have been described by Pederson in J. Am. Chem. Soc. 89:7017 (1967) and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,978.
Polymers of the repeating unit ##STR5## WHERE X IS 4 AND 5 ARE DESCRIBED BY Kopolow et al. in Macromolecules 4:359 (1971). Farthing, in Chapter 5 of "High Polymers" Vol. XIII, (Interscience, 1963), describes the preparation of polyoxypropylene polymers of the repeating unit ##STR6## by the catalytic effect of boron trifluoride on the oxetane bearing monomer. Polymers of the repeating unit ##STR7## are also described by Farthing.
Compounds with polyoxyalkylene cyclomer functional groups have been shown to form complexes with certain alkali and alkaline earth metal cations in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,562,295 and 3,686,225.
Cyclic oligomers of the formula ##STR8## where y is 2-9 are described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,468,722.